View Full Version : What does it mean to "flow" with the trail?
Among other things, I think it means hikers should accept the trail as it is and provide what it requires.
It means not expecting the trail to be something other than the reality of what it is. By expecting it to be something other than what it is, a hiker assumes an additional burden, which can be a heavy burden indeed.
"Flowing" means hiking smart. It's not about taking shortcuts or deviating from the path, but rather about how someone chooses to hike including what thoughts one entertains while hiking. It might involve decisions like employing proper summer hiking techniques such as not hiking at high noon, for instance, or thinking positive thoughts, which influence one's perception of one's experience in no small way.
Of course, "flowing" also means resting when one's body requires rest.
Other ideas?
dessertrat
01-19-2008, 12:46
I thought it meant when it rains a lot and the trail turns into a stream, and you get washed downhill.
Maybe not.
Well, I suppose siezing an opportunity such as you describe would qualify as flowing with the trail, but it only would work on the downhill portions.:D
What "flowing" means to me is that any trail, like life, is comprised of both good times and bad. Both good and bad have there places, for if one didn't exist, then we would have nothing to compare the other too. To "flow" is to roll with the punches, to rejoice with the good times and make the best you can of the bad times.
Flowing--being well-planned but having no plans, accepting each corner, each step up or step down as its own unique experience, knowing all you need is on your back and moving about your day with that knowledge.
Blissful
01-19-2008, 22:53
Taking it day by day and dealing with whatever that day brings.
Jim Adams
01-20-2008, 02:17
to me it is being in the zone where you are floating along effortlessly at 3mph...especially sweet if you are rock dancing!
geek
kayak karl
01-20-2008, 03:04
Carpe diem
Seize the day
Always:sun
Of course, "flowing" also means resting when one's body requires rest.
...and the best way to do that is to have a fully stocked van at the trail head and your tent set up at the end of each day. :D
Flooooooow baby flooooooow. :D:D:banana
shelterbuilder
01-20-2008, 11:08
Among other things, I think it means hikers should accept the trail as it is and provide what it requires.
It means not expecting the trail to be something other than the reality of what it is. By expecting it to be something other than what it is, a hiker assumes an additional burden, which can be a heavy burden indeed.
"Flowing" means hiking smart. It's not about taking shortcuts or deviating from the path, but rather about how someone chooses to hike including what thoughts one entertains while hiking. It might involve decisions like employing proper summer hiking techniques such as not hiking at high noon, for instance, or thinking positive thoughts, which influence one's perception of one's experience in no small way.
Of course, "flowing" also means resting when one's body requires rest.
Other ideas?
Who knew that you were a philosopher too, and not just a "lean, mean, hiking machine"?:D
But if we are going to "wax philosophical" today, then aren't you REALLY talking about letting the trail "flow" through you? Whether it's hot, or cold, or wet, or dry; whether the miles fly by like a cloud on the wind, or they drag on through bone-crushing tiredness; whether you walk for miles enveloped in a mantra of aloneness, or round a bend to find an old friend whom you haven't seen for days?
And as the trail flows through you, it changes you - somtimes in small, subtle ways that we cannot see and may not understand at first - much like a river flowing through the land: channels deepen, curves and bends meander, banks erode....
(Yes, I was out yesterday, and it was a good day....)
the trick is to surrender to the flow:sun
Jim Adams
01-20-2008, 11:25
the trick is to surrender to the flow:sun
hear, hear!!!:cool:
geek
Ok
Flowing with the trail
An anticipation of hiking the trek, a realization that the trail was much bigger than you thought
A sense of the wonder around you, as you go, you find out more and more what you did not see the day before
A sense of inner satisfaction, that you can smell on the breeze and see the trees for so much more than they seem to be
In time a trail that engulfs you, looses you and confines you
A want to keep going at the end, a wish to feel the trail wind through you again
A passion that only can come to you from the spirits of the path
A drink from its high waters, some still quenching without the filters flask
A knowledge that even through all the wet, sloggy, miserable days, your want to be here intensifies, hoping for warm milder days
A common thread, woven through a community that knows how you feel, it isnt everybody but would you want it to be
A boot and a rock, a boot and a root, a boot to a pathway that has an ending we shoot
The point of the thing, is the point of the whole, an ever winding vein that defines to us another world
A world we've come to know and within it we've grown, to love it and respect it and defend it as ours
You know, its not just the path, the mountains or the streams, on the trail or just "out there" its the air that I breath
The sky that is clear or sometimes loaded with fear and the wind softly blowing or at tempest force howl
The nights getting in well after dark and a pain, of setting up camp, after which, its serene, no reservations or fears, its just part of another day
just walking it out, living a dream
Pedaling Fool
01-20-2008, 13:29
I didn't feel like I was "flowing" or "floating" until after 6 or 700 miles into the trail. It just hit me one day in Virginia, that's the beauty of a long-distance hike vs. small section hikes - your body takes on a change that's hard to put in words. The "hiker's appetite" is also an incredible experience.
Jim Adams
01-20-2008, 13:38
All these thoughts and feelings that you guys are throwing out there is giving me Springer Fever already!
Yes, the feeling (flowing) is real and I miss it terribly.
.......I remember times in New Hampshire and Maine that the trail did seem as though it floated under my feet, like I was gently walking on thick moss effortlessly at 3+ mph and not missing any of my surroundings or happenings around me...you get into conditioning that makes the trail seem euphoric...like you can hike for years non-stop.
........damn, wonder how much new gear I need before March?
geek
Who knew that you were a philosopher too, and not just a "lean, mean, hiking machine"?:D
One isn't born a lean, mean hiking machine, sb. One becomes one in time by submitting to the trail and following it where it leads. To reach The Pinnacle seemingly without expending any effort is the reward for a hike well hiked.
Those who fight the trail lose and go home without ever tasting its sweet fruit.
Pedaling Fool
01-20-2008, 13:44
...Those who fight the trail lose and go home without ever tasting its sweet fruit.
Or if they're pig-headed enough, lik me, they learn to submit to the fight and respect the trail. Not unlike a cowboy breaking a horse, me being the horse of course...
I'm not sure what it means yet. I take it to mean flow with the trail itself, meaning nature including your own, as opposed to clotting with the mob, meaning people and civilization and all the pretence including your own. I think it also means don't count your miles until they are hiked.
Is it possible to plan a thru-hike without being somewhat pretencious?
I remember times in New Hampshire and Maine that the trail did seem as though it floated under my feet, like I was gently walking on thick moss effortlessly at 3+ mph and not missing any of my surroundings or happenings around me...you get into conditioning that makes the trail seem euphoric...like you can hike for years non-stop.
geek
It is an experience that's not unique to hiking, I think. They're called peak experiences and I experience them often when participating in other activities.
They occur when I stop thinking about what I'm doing and just do what seems to come naturally and seemingly without effort. I think this type of experience isn't possible until one has achieved a certain level of physical conditioning and competence with the particular activity.:sun
Well, I don't know what the speakers meant by flow, but flow in other contexts often refers to what endurance athletes sometimes call the zone. It is something that happens when you get so completely absorbed into just moving down the trail that all neurotic obsessions just melt away and a sort of bliss state ensues. You may be experiencing pain or some sort of distress, but in the flow, that doesn't seem to matter. The physical symptoms often fade to insignificance. One becomes more aware of the wonder of one's own body, the rhythmic breathing, the pulse, and the integration of one's feet, legs and torso with the contours of the trail. The animals and plants by the trail may take on a wonder and eye popping splendor. One may get a perma-grin, and just sort of float along, taking in the beauty without comment or strain. Just what happens during a flow experience is different for whoever is experiencing it, but the awe-filled wonder of it is hard to mistake.
Flow is one of the permanent gifts of a long trail experience, something that can change lives. For some who experience it, it isn't so differentiated from normal trail life that they remark on it separately. They are the ones who take the trail as it comes from the first, and flow is just the way they are when they have been out there for a while. For them, the trail itself becomes a metaphor for flow, and they can hardly stay away. For others, flow comes in the midst of worry and discomfort and just blows everything else away. What was hell turns into a paradise of peace and serenity. Everything is just the way it should be; rain dripping into your underpants and boots, cold creeping up from your fingertips, and everything alive! Flow is what you anticipate when Springer Fever sets in. Every moment on the trail is another moment when you could be in the flow, in the midst of the great wheel of life, at one with it.
But of course, flow has nothing to do with the trail. You can find the flow wherever you are, whatever you are doing. It may not be as easy, but it is true, because flow is just the way we are supposed to be all the time.
warren doyle
01-20-2008, 15:02
Great thread. I like the term 'flow'. I do it often.
No more thinking miles or elevation gains/losses, you don't sweat or drink anymore than a moving animal needs to.
I am here for the trail. The trail is not here for me.
You move with neither pain, discomfort, nor fear with all your senses reacting to the here and now.
The blazes are the only physical symbols needed
to show you the way to peace, contentment and fulfillment.
Happy flowing trails!
Flow = endorphins:-?:):sun:D:banana
Flowing with the trail can lead to serious injury during periods of heavy rain.
Flow = endorphins:-?:):sun:D:bananaLong Slow Distance = LSD. :-?:):sun:D:banana
Long Slow Distance = LSD. :-?:):sun:D:banana
LSD = Lake Shore Drive ENJOY!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjNSmAl7hF0